English Muffin Bread

Name: English Muffin Bread
Prep time: 100 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 130 min
Ingredients: 1 package instant yeast (approximately 2 1/2 teaspoons); 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar; 1 1/2 cup milk or water; 1/2 cup dried milk (if using water); 2 1/2 cups bread or AP flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; butter (For loaf pan); cornmeal-optional (For loaf pan)

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4.42 from 12 votes

Easy, economical, and delicious, English Muffin Bread is loaded with nooks and crannies for melted butter and jam. No mixer, no kneading, a few pantry ingredients, and only 2 hours will make the perfect bread for toast and sandwiches.

English muffin bread cut on a wooden board.

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🥣Ingredients
👨‍🍳How to Make English Muffin Bread
✔️Tips
🍞How to use English Muffin Bread
❄️Storage
❓FAQs
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
📖 Recipe

It is a very simple homemade bread, perfect for beginner breadmakers. Just follow the easy step-by-step photo instructions for a delicious no-kneed bread with a soft but coarse texture loaded with those nooks and crannies you want.

If you love English muffins, this is the bread for you. Sometimes called English toasting bread or muffin bread, think of English muffin bread as muffins in a loaf, even with the traditional cornmeal-coated crust.

Try other great bread recipes like Stand Mixer Bread—Basic White, Julia Child's French Bread, and Stand Mixer Peasant Bread.

Based on Cook Country English Muffin Bread Recipe (membership required). I made it a one-loaf recipe and added options and details.

🥣Ingredients

All-purpose flour
Instant dry yeast
Pantry ingredients—salt, sugar, baking soda
Milk or dry milk with water
Cornmeal—optional

👨‍🍳How to Make English Muffin Bread

Mix dry ingredients of flour, sugar, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Mix in yeast if not added to the liquid. Add dry milk if using water.
Add warm milk or water with yeast and mix into the dry ingredients until no dry is left, but do not over-mix.
Coat a bowl with PAM cooking spray, add the dough, and cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size—about 30-60 minutes.
Coat a loaf pan with butter and then dust with cornmeal. Add the dough and let the dough rinse in a warm place—for about 30 minutes.
Bake until golden brown and an internal temp of 190°-200°—about 30-35 minutes.

This is a summary of the steps and ingredients. See the recipe card or the step-by-step photo instructions below for complete instructions.

✔️Tips

This is a "light dough" with not a lot of structure. It needs to be contained by the loaf pan to bake well. The top will not "crown" and may "fall" at the end.
Let the loaf cool completely before cutting, or you may rip it apart. And when you do cut it, a sharp serrated blade knife is a good idea.
Hand mixing is preferred. Stand mixers and bread machines will tend to over-mix.
One package of yeast is 2 ½ teaspoons of bulk dry yeast.
Using bread flour instead of AP flour will give a slightly better structure from more gluten formation. Use what you have.
Instant Yeast is essentially the same as Fast-Rising, Rapid-Rise, Quick Rise, and Bread Machine Yeast. Active dry yeast can be used, but it works slower.
Coating the baking pan with cornmeal is traditional but not required. You can skip the cornmeal, but it will lose some taste and classic crunch.

🍞How to use English Muffin Bread

It's a perfect toasting bread for a toast and jam breakfast but also for French toast and will make terrific homemade sandwiches.

❄️Storage

Like many homemade loaves of bread, there are no preservatives, so the shelf life is relatively short at only 2-3 days.

You can freeze this bread tightly sealed for 2-3 months. I like to cut it into slices and separate it with parchment paper before freezing for convenience.

❓FAQs

Are English muffins and English muffin bread English?

No. English muffins and this bread are American creations and not English. The muffin bread is also known as English Muffin Toasting Bread.

Although a British immigrant in New York City developed English Muffins.

What is the best final internal temperature for bread?

An internal temperature of 190° is a reliable endpoint for yeast bread. That is fine here, although the model recipe used 200°.

Other signs of fully baked bread should also be present, like a nice brown color and a hollow sound when tapped.

Can I use whole wheat flour?

Whole wheat may be partley used. If you go over a 50% mixture, you may need a bit more liquid and should add some honey.

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This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

Bread Recipes, Breakfast Recipes

Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

flour with yeast and other bread ingredients.

Things I always have on hand.

Optional proofing of the yeast—Mix one pack of instant yeast into 1 ½ cups of 105° - 110° water or milk. Let's sit while you do the dry mix. It should foam a little after a few minutes.

mixing all the dry ingredients in a metal bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 ½ cups of AP or bread flour, ½ cup dried milk if not using milk, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 ½ teaspoon of sugar.

adding wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Mix wet into dry and stir until there is no dry left.

Spray the bowl and some plastic wrap with a good spray of PAM on one side and cover the bowl with the plastic. The PAM will prevent sticking if the plastic touches the sticky dough. Place in a warm spot until double in size—30-60 minutes.

Coat a loaf pan with butter and swirl about two tablespoons of cornmeal to coat. This is an 8X4 glass pan, but metal should be fine.

covering the loaf pan and dough with plastic wrap.

Preheat oven to 375°. Move the dough into the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until even with the top of the pan — about 30 minutes.

Remove plastic wrap. Bake until golden brown and an internal temp of 190°-200°—about 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool for about 60 minutes on a rack.